One Song

WHAT THE PRESS SAID

"One of the 10 best european theater 2022."
Matt Wolf - The New York Times

"The most exalted show of the opening days is directed by the uncategorisable Belgian artist Miet Warlop. One Song means what it says in the title – a single, boppy composition by Maarten van Cauwenberghe repeated for an hour by a ragtag group of musician-athlete-apostles. There’s a frantic drummer, a gymnast-violinist on a balance beam, a double-bassist doing punishing sit-ups to reach his instrument, a jumping keyboard player and a singer on a treadmill, all wearing sports kit with socks sourced from Gammarelli, the papal tailor in Rome. They are imprisoned in a time warp gym with a crowd of fans on an upstage bleacher cheering them on raucously as they repeat the music faster, even faster and then lurchingly slower, following an on-stage metronome and the incomprehensible injunctions of a hysterical, hilarious, megaphone-wielding announcer. Just when you feel they’re getting the hang of things, water starts dripping on them, making them slip and slide quite dangerously. […] So far, so Sisyphean: but Warlop’s real intent is to lead us through the patent humour and futility of this set-up towards deeper concerns about the purpose of human action, collaboration and – etched through the song’s incantation – the brutal and universal cycle of grief. [...] Completing the frenetic tableau, a whirling performer chants text and assembles clay tiles of words in meandering phrases around the stage, ending by dancing with the word “if”. “In everyday life, ‘if’ is an evasion, in the theatre ‘if’ is the truth,” wrote Peter Brook in The Empty Space. Brook is in the minds and hearts of everyone here, joyously sharing reminiscences of this awesome director, who is – surprisingly – officially commemorated only by a festival blogpost."
Andrew Todd - The Guardian

"A miracle that awakened the festival with a comforting and deeply moving trance, thanks to the power of the collective."
Vincent Bouquet - Theatral Magazine

"A rocking primal scream bursting with zest for life, energy and humour."
Filip Tielens - De Standaard

“Warlop is a fascinating artist who is finally getting more recognition.”
Fabienne Darge - Le Monde

"A powerful but salutary knockout. Seventeen years after the performance Sportband, Warlop’s requiem for her brother Jasper, One Song tells us that grief always stays with us, but also that grief – by carrying it together – is transformed, from the intimate to the universal, and allows us to go to the limits of what seems humanly possible."
Jean-Marie Wynants - Le Soir